SpaceX scrubs Starship Flight 10 launch

SpaceX has scrubbed the Starship Flight Test 10 and is looking for a new launch opportunity due to some additional checks on ground systems.

The Flight 10 launch was scheduled for today at 6:30 p.m. CT and started loading the propellant into the Super Heavy booster and the upper stage. A few minutes later, SpaceX announced that it’s scrubbing the Flight 10 launch to get more time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems. The company has not shared the specifics of the issue, but it’s likely to get resolved soon.

SpaceX Starship Flight 10 launch Scrub

Such scrubs are totally normal to a space vehicle launch, as they include safety measures and rocket-specific troubleshooting for successful launch operations.

For now, SpaceX has not announced a backup launch window. Fortunately, the troubleshooting doesn’t take much time, and we’ll soon hear about a new Starship Flight 10 launch date.

This test mission is aiming at some advanced milestones after a huge setback when the ship 36, designed for this test mission, exploded during testing. Flight 10 will align with Flight 9 and focus on the booster’s landing to make it more efficient.

The plan here is to save fuel during boostback burn and use that to lift more payload mass to orbit, while improving its performance. However, this test doesn’t involve the iconic tower catch due to an engine experiment before the booster splashes down into the Gulf of America.

The ship, on the other hand targeting the deployment of eight Starlink simulators. Furthermore, the second stage will perform a single Raptor engine relight in space before making a reentry into Earth’s atmosphere to test its heat shields and thermal system.

The test flight will wrap up as soon as the ship reaches the very end of the splash zone in the Indian Ocean and mark a landing burn.